Professor Geraldine Van Bueren QC presents the legal arguments around the deportation of Trenton Oldfield, the Australian protestor who interrupted the Oxford-Cambridge boat race and has now had his application for a spousal visa to remain in the UK rejected. Professor Van Bueren writes that it is 'a fundamental tenet of democratic society with a culture of human rights that it does not seek to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut' and discusses the rights of Oldfield’s wife and child, as British citizens.

Geraldine Van Bueren is Professor of International Human Rights Law at Queen Mary, University of London.